In their push to become Canada’s foremost fighters against concussions, London researchers are getting a boost from the world’s biggest brain bank and a former CFL player who won Grey Cups with four teams.

The brains of ex-NHLers Bob Probert and Rick Martin are in jars in a Boston-area lab whose leader, the world-renowned Dr. Ann McKee, is coming to London Wednesday to speak at the city’s first symposium on concussions.

She’ll be joined by a slew of stars from sports and medicine, including former football star Tim Fleiszer, who’s made it his mission to give coaches and parents the tools they need to protect kids from the ravages of brain injuries that, in recent years, have led to high-profile suicides by former professional athletes.

London is well on its way to becoming Canada’s leader.

“It’s fantastic to see,” Fleiszer said.

The symposium and an accompanying fundraiser will become annual events. But key players in London are in talks with Fleiszer and officials with the brain bank to make a more permanent mark, the creation of an institute here that would be the nation’s first.

Dr. Michael Strong, dean of Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, envisions an institute with international stature that tackles concussions on two fronts, using research to unravel its causes and education to teach adults how to better protect children.

Talks with Boston scientists are underway, so the effort here builds on the work there rather than simply repeating it, Strong said.

London hospitals will work with experts at the Fowler Kennedy Sports Medicine Clinic and researchers from three faculties at Western University in what may be an unprecedented level of collaboration, he said.

The education component will be aided by Fleiszer, who last December started the Canadian arm of the U.S.-based Sports Legacy Institute, a part with Boston University in creating the brain bank.

Fleiszer played ten seasons in the CFL, winning Grey Cups with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes, Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders. But it was in his university days that he made the key connection that would guide his efforts today. He played on the defensive line at Harvard University with Christopher Nowinski, who would suffer brain damage on the gridiron and later as a professional wrestler in World Wrestling Entertainment. It was Nowinski who teamed with a doctor to start the Sports Legacy Institute in 2007

Fleiszer suffered through three confirmed concussions and as many as 100 head traumas in his playing days, but escaped the long-term symptoms that afflict Nowinski and others. A key goal of research is to pinpoint which youth and adults are most at risk of permanent damage and then get coaches and parents to intervene before that damage occurs.

Right now, many youth sports leagues for hockey and football have information about concussions, but details vary greatly from league to league.

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The SYMPOSIUM

Where: Arthur and Sonia Labatt Health Sciences Building, Western University

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